Billy Nomates – Metal Horse Album Release Show – Just Dropped In Records – Coventry – 22nd May 2025
You know when you have watched something grow in your city and feel like you’ve been a part of it? Well, Fighting Boredom have spent a good amount of time in Just Dropped In Records right from when it was in a repurposed container through to its current space, part of an old industrial building repurposed into a marketplace and community area. There’s a fair amount of space when they clear the centre of the shop and it’s full tonight. The second album launch that we have covered and it promises to be a treat. Billy No Mates, with band, playing eight or so songs to introduce us to their new album, Metal Horse.
It is full in here, I aim for the side where me and the daughter stand and wait, the Photographer weaves his way into the very mixed up varied crowd and the band head onto the stage, They smile and Billy thanks us for coming out and introduces the band to start the set. Then ‘This is Metal Horse’. They start playing idiosyncratic pop music with a funky poppy vibe, the drums have cloth clamped onto them to muffle them I presume. It is on the odd side of good, her vocal is distinctive and strong and although she has a pink light on her throughout the show, the cloudy sunlight coming through the skylight makes the room feel warm. Inclusive and brightly lit.
There’s a disco beat, synths playing and a brilliant funky bassline, Billy pitches the vocal lower and the music is faster than before. It goes into a more indie pop sound and the drummer has joined in with the synthetic beats adding another dimension to it. It is a smooth flowing sound. The layers of sound build up and drop on top of each other and it’s a lovely feeling groove as people dance where they stand. The song ends with a shimmer of synths and they all smile.
Billy tells us that the next song has been getting a lot of attention, and you never really know what’s going to happen to a song. It starts with hard drums, another nice bass line and a hard vocal, a great indie pop song. Daisy, my daughter, says that it reminds her of any song in a feel good moment montage in a nineties teen movie. I get it exactly.
The band are now grinning widely between songs. She explains that Hugh Cornwell is on the next song on the album, not here obviously! She says that it’s odd when your heroes appear and offer to sing with you. The song is low and bass led, perfect for Hugh I would have thought, It’s echoing and deep with a Bunnymen and Joy Division feel, it’s a great song with another excellent vocal, this time it almost feels angry. The next one has a low sensual vocal and music to match, think classic eighties pop.
A low down bass and sparkling synth leads into a hard song, Billy’s facial expressions are angry and emotional as she sings, the drummer plays maracas as a another deep low down pop song swells over us. It’s the kind of music that you hear and it sneaks into your brain, it catches you unawares and then you’re singing a snatch of it all day wondering where it came from. It has a way of getting under your skin without you noticing.
Billy picks up an acoustic guitar and says that I’ll try it without a microphone. She stands with guitar as the bassist sits next to her. As she says, there’s no amp on the guitar and she sings a beautiful perfect folk song with harmonies from the bassist and brushes gently tickling the drums and cymbals, a wonderful moment.
The guitar goes back and the music gets faster again, bass and drums working together to make a danceable cool groove and then Billy sings and makes the song hers, an uplifting bright pop song.
It’s been around half an hour or so and she announces that this is the last song and thanks us again for coming. The drums kick it off and a piano comes from the synths. The bass is dirty and Billy’s deep serious vocal matches it, her voice is brilliant, but then, that’s why we are here. It’s vulnerable but taking no shit off anyone, a great bunch of off centre pop songs, they finish, thank us again and grin at each other, a great little set for a great album, Billy Nomates is a star.
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Billy Nomates
Billy Nomates has a Bandcamp page and is on Instagram and Facebook.
All words by Adrian Bloxham, all pictures by Martin Ward.
